Glencroft - Day 10

Day 10 is something I haven't attempted before, plasterwork.  I picked up Poly spackling compound and thinned it out with white latex paint, it mixes to about the consistency of oatmeal and not much smoother than that it seems.  I started out dabbing it on with a brush but I really really hate stucco.  after doing two walls in bumpy stucco I decided "to hell with this" and grabbed a discard piece of wood, loaded it up, and started smooshing the plaster on to the wall.

The photo is the first coat, I will put a second on, sand lightly, seal, and add timbering trim / beams.  Plastering is actually a helluva lot of fun, I have to say it's been my favourite wall effect to date.

Chantilly - Day 24

Ah unpacking, it's like christmas on a budget.  All these boxes and no idea what's in them.


I finally unpacked the furniture for mom's house tonight, so I thought I would snap off a few pictures of it so I have an idea of what I still need to get.

 I need to find a living room set that will work with orange.  This is obviously no small feat - pardon the pun!

I would also like to find a vanity and a dress form.  The vanity will be easy enough but I have no idea where I will find a dress form in half scale.

Glencroft - Day 4 through 6

I've been working sporadically on Glencroft while I was sick this last week, mostly because everything I need to finish off the Chantilly is still in a box, somewhere, probably wrapped in paper and dust.

I have the second floor installed and glued.  I put white cardstock up in the living room rather than try to plaster, and I was very sure I didn't want stucco on all the walls.  I then undertook the paperclay fireplace.

First off, Paperclay is vastly superior to the DAS modelling clay I used in the Chantilly.  It has virtually no odour, isn't sticky, and takes longer to dry so it is far easier to work with.  Also it goes through the pasta machine much slicker which is again because it isn't sticky.

I rolled out numerous strips of paper clay and glued them to the bare plywood, then with a moist paper towel I smoothed the pieces together and built up some texture.  Next the stones were shaped by pressing the lines in and pulling the clay towards the centre of the stone to add depth.

After the clay dried I added black watercolours to the cracks in the stone and blocked in stone colours with the left over paint on my watercolour palette.  A few dirty washes of grey with a bit of yellow or red and the tones were evened out quite nicely.

The wiring was a touch trickier than I thought, i dug out a channel for the right wall sconce with my dremel and built the clay up over top.  the left sconce and the candles on the second floor have individual holes for the wires to run through, at this point I know the power strip is either going in the chimney or in the foundation,either way the wires are traveling through the chimney to get to their destination.

When I built the baseboard in the living room I left them high enough to accomodate hardwood flooring, they will also accommodate the roundwire should I decide to add table or floor lamps.  The dining room / kitchen will have ceiling fixtures.The hardest part of the wiring so far has been the planning by a long shot.  It's hard to know where you will want lighting when all you have built is a portion of a large box!

Glencroft - Day 1 through 3

Well my move is finally almost complete - almost because I still haven't finished unpacking everything.  It certainly will be nice to be able to use the garage once this endeavour has been completed.  One of the boxes that did get unpacked however is my Glencroft.  I really have enjoyed working on the Chantilly for mom, so I have decided to build another slightly larger (ie. full scale) house, with full electrification, to sit in the hallway of the new house.  I've had my eye on the Glencroft for years so this is actually quite an exciting undertaking.

The first difference is of course the scale, this house is freaking huge!  The second massive difference is I'm now working with a die-cut kit rather than a laser cut.  The difference in detail is definitely noticeable, but then it will be easier to add detail to this scale as well - it all comes out in the wash.

The third difference I've noticed is the cost to work on a larger scale house.  I got wood for the 1st story flooring today and it cost about as much as all the flooring for the Chantilly, and possibly the siding as well.  The entire Chantilly will easily fit in the living room of Glencroft.

That said, I have a stack of HOM furniture kits kicking around, so it will be cheaper to furnish :)

I completed a few dry fits and I think I have narrowed down the problem areas in this house - they are the ceiling beams, the stair well, and the yard if I choose to install it.  Today I papered the stairwell and started staining the lower portions of the living room walls and exposed framework with Minwax Jacobean.  Any of the wood with the "good side" exposed seems to take another coat of two of stain to match the stain put on the "bad side", but at least I'm getting it to match.

I also think I will forego the kit mantle for the first floor fireplace and fashion a more elaborate fireplace to compliment the siding, and then plaster or paper the upper portions of the walls to keep the room from becoming too dark and depressing.  I also need to mark out the lighting and find a place to hide this electrical panel.